Indigenous group threatened by judicial decision

Since the autumn of 1990 a trial in the district court
in Sveg Sweden against four local Sami communities has been ongoing. The
trial has questioned the Sami's rights to use certain parts of the forest
area as grazing land for reindeer during the wintertime. Even though the
highlands are sufficient for the needs during the summer they are certainly
not adequate to provide food for the reindeer year round. Because of this
the trial has been of vital importance for the survival of these communities.
This trial was unique since it not only questioned the indigenous rights
for a few individuals but the landrights for four communities affecting
the Samis in a whole province.

By February 21 1996 the court reached a decision, which
is that the Sami's have no right whatsoever to use privately owned areas
in the forest land for wintergrazing.
After the trial Olov Johansson - chairman of Glen Sami community - said
that: "For us being an indigenous people, this decision wasn't suprising."
The Swedish justice administration is obviously not able to protect
the rights of its indigenous population, and in this question this country
is not better than any other colonial power."

"This
is just another proof that we are nothing but second rate citizens in this
country. The most bitter part is that this verdict seemes to deny the existence
of our culture and implies that we havn't existed in this country for centuries."
The landowners have had nothing monetarily to lose by this trial; their
legal costs were covered by the insurance companies. On the other hand,
the economy of the affected Sami communities is a completely different
story:

All court costs had to be paid from the community's common
funds, a total of 3.8 million SKr or about .5 million American dollars.
Which is about the same sum as the community's total fortune (reindeer
included). This is dangerously close to backruptcy for these communities
according to Attorney Jorgen Bolin at the Sami organization SSR. "Especially
since the landowners now have asked the executory authorities to immediately
collect the legal fees from the four Sami communities."

Anyone who agrees that this is an outrageous violation of native rights -please help us with letters of support!

There's a chanse we might do something about this,
if there's a significant number of individuals and
organizations who join our protest.
If you agree please register your name through e-mail.
all comments are -of course- also welcome.